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John Ryder (1692-1766)
}} Biography This ancestor, like his father and grandfather before him, almost made it through his life without unusual incident. But when he reached the age of 73, disaster struck with such devastating fury that the entire family was nearly destroyed. He married Mehitable Crowell, daughter of John Crowell Jr., of Yarmouth, and Bethiah, his wife, and sister of Col. Paul Crowell of Chatham. Following their marriage John and Mehitable removed a few miles to the east, from Yarmouth to Chatham MA, at the "elbow" of Cape Cod, and settled about 1715 on land "formerly the homestead of William Nickerson, Sen. This farm appears to have extended from Muddy Cove across to Herring River (later called Ryder's Cove) and to have bounded north on land of Paul Crowell and of Jehoshaphat Eldridge." There for the next fifty years the Rider family lived and prospered. 1766 Smallpox Epidemic Then in January of 1766 the great Smallpox Epidemic struck the town of Chatham and "fell upon this family with unexampled severity." Where it came from is unclear. Nellie Rider tells us "the smallpox was imported in a package of clothing sent from the West Indies and washed in the house. Another account says the disease originated in the family of Deacon Paul Crowell, a wealthy citizen who lived near Ryder's Mill." It doesn't matter. Just how many died is uncertain now. Hawes tells us that "not only did the father and mother succumb to this disease, but a daugther Bethiah, a son Zenas and his wife, a son Stephen, his wife, and nine of his ten children, and the wife of a son Reuben" making in all seventeen people out of this one family." And the disease was not confined to the Rider family. Nellie Rider says, "Sears genealogy says all but Simeon died. In all, 65 persons took the infection. Mr. Ryder, his wife, and 10 children were stricken down with the disease at once. The two resident doctors died of the disease." James Covell of Chatham, kept a journal in which he recorded a partial list of Riders who died, which reads like a sad litany. John's will dated March 30, 1762, was proven March 11, 1766, when "it appears that Reuben Ryder was the only surviving executor." The will mentions his wife Mehitable, sons John and Simeon at The Oblong, sons Reuben, Stephen, Zenas, daughters Mehitable Taylor, Zeruiah Collins, Esther Nickerson, Bethiah Ryder, and names Reuben, Stephen and Zenas as executors. The inventory, taken May 23, 1766, amounted to 1,128 pounds, of which 1,000 pounds represented real estate." The victims from the Rider family were buried in a special gravesite on the edge of the Rider property, "on a hill west of the Head of Rider's Cove, near the residence of Charles J. Jager." MD19,49. There, a century later, a researcher could find only a few broken and scattered headstones - a grim reminder of the devastation of 1766. John's headstone reads, "John Rider/Died with the Smallpox/ in ___ January, 1766/ in his 76th year." Two sons, John and Simeon, as the will mentions, escaped the ravages of Epidemic, having removed to The Oblong of New York State nearly twenty years before. The story of one of these sons, John5 Rider, is the subject of the next generation. * Dec. 23 1765: Mercy, wife of Stephen Rider * Jan . 9 1766: Stephen Rider Jr. * Jan. 11: Mr. John Rider * Jan. 11: Hannah, wife of Reuben Rider * Jan. 12: David Rider, son of Stephen Rider * Jan. 14: Elizabeth, wife of Zenas Rider * Jan. 15: Experience, daughter of Stephen Rider * Jan. 16: Stephen Rider * Jan. 16: Richard, the son of Stephen Rider * Jan. 17: Zenas Rider * Jan. 17: Bethia Rider, daughter of John Rider * Mar. 20: Mrs. Mehitable Rider, wife of John Rider * May. 9: Mehitable Rider, daughter of John Rider] A page from James Covell's diary, showing the devastation wrought upon this family. A later descendant says, "The victims were buried in a special gravesite on a hill west of Ryder's Cove." References: William C. Smith, Early Chatham Settlers, Library of Cape Cod History and Genealogy No. 36, Yarmouthport, 1915; James W. Hawes, Genealogies: Ryder, Library of Cape Cod History and Genealogy No. 98, Yarmouthport, Mass, 1911; Nellie Rider, Mayflower Descendant 9,180; "Children of John Rider and Hester" Mayflower Descendant 5, 1903, pp.159-60; Mayflower Descendant 19,1917, p.49, "Record of the Rider Family, Died of Smallpox 1766" * Ryder Family Genealogy